Incoming Rangers manager Philippe Clement continued his outspoken address of the club’s fitness issues in an injury update on Kemar Roofe.
Speaking ahead of the Scottish Premiership clash with Hearts, the Belgian manager claims the Jamaican international is once again laid up with injury.
This comes with Kemar Roofe having played only 88 times in three and a half years in Glasgow and Philippe Clement has suggested another lengthy injury lay-off beckons.
Questioning the rushed comebacks which have seen Kemar Roofe return intermittently in his Rangers career, Philippe Clement is no longer interested in the striker’s bit-part availability.
“Kemar will not be available for the weekend, for sure,” said Clement. “Probably we need to rebuild in the next weeks and take a good look at that because he’s been struggling already for a long time with the same things.
“It’s important to find out what the reason for that is and not always to find the solution to get him fit for the next game and then have him struggling for the next one and going game by game. We need to really get to the cause of the problem.
“I can do a lot of things but I’m not a doctor. I can’t say anything about that.
“We first need to make a really good assessment of how to bring Kemar back in a way that can be long-term back and not short-term.
“That’s been the case the last couple of months to get him fit for games but in between he’s been struggling. So we need to get him really fit.”
Philippe Clement points to wider Rangers injury culture in Kemar Roofe update
The injury issues of Kemar Roofe are just one a number of major conditioning problems which Philippe Clement has walked into at Rangers.
Injuries have devastated Rangers over the course of the last two seasons and it is no exaggeration to say that it has had a monumental impact on the club’s hunt for silverware.
Kemar Roofe is a high-earner who cost a reported £4.5m and is now increasingly likely to leave the club without having had the contribution his talent deserves.
There are fears that we’re seeing a repeat of this with ex-Derby County captain Tom Lawrence and – as Filip Helander returns for the Swedish national team – it’s a story increasingly common at Ibrox.
Reports have suggested that the 13 absences which we’ve already suffered at various points of the season have forced the club to act with the appointment of a high-class head of performance imminent.
Previously Philippe Clement has been outspoken about the conditioning of the club’s players not being at the elite level required to create a winning and consistent Rangers team.
It’s hard to argue against that either.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Michael Beale both saw the axe swing in the midst of injury crisis but it’s clear this culture of constant sicknotes has cost Rangers already.
And we’re not just talking millions; in the aftermath of 55 injuries have played a huge part in allowing Celtic to regain a domestic foothold with the club’s World Record title haul now within sight at Parkhead.
